In a veiled attack, he said, “Be it Congress’ ‘naamdaar’ family or the corrupt family in Bihar, their assets are in thousands of crores now. From where the money came? If they had little care of the nation and the poor, they would have hesitated from doing corruption.”

Coming down heavily on Lalu Prasad’s RJD, the Congress ally in Bihar, which he did not mention by name, PM Modi accused it of using the support of caste for achieving power but thereafter promoting those within the family, ignoring the contributions of workers with potential.

He also attacked the party for having allegedly promoted criminalisation during its stint in power and ‘failure’ to come up with innovations aimed at improving the living standards of the poor.

Further, the Prime Minister made an emotional appeal to the voters and said, “This is my last public meeting today; last opportunity to seek blessings for 2019 Elections. Lekin iske baad Pradhan Mantri pad ko seva ke bhav se svikaar karte hue, main fir ek baar vikas ki ganga lekar ke aapke beech aaunga (But I will be back with my development projects among you in my fresh tenure. Your love has made me confident of a victory. But please do ensure, in the last phase, that the magnitude of the victory is handsome).

He also asserted that terrorism could be wiped out only by an aggressive strategy like the one adopted by his government and scoffed at the opposition for taking exception to making national security an election issue. “The Mahamilavatis say national security is not an issue. How can it not be one when so many common people lose their lives in terrorist attacks?

“The perpetrators ought to be finished the way we did, by chasing them to their hideouts (ghar mein ghuskar mara), PM Modi said in an oblique reference to the Balakot air strikes.

Attacking the Congress over Sam Pitroda’s ‘hua to hua’ remark, PM Modi alleged that it reflected the opposition party’s ‘arrogance’ and ‘unapologetic attitude’ about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.